Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned that a wider conflict in the Middle East was a realistic possibility in a speech that was expected to indicate whether his group would wage a full-fledged war against Israel.

Hezbollah have been escalating day by day, forcing Israel to keep its forces near the Lebanese border instead of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, Nasrallah said in a televised address.

“What’s happening on the border might seem modest but is very important.”

Nasrallah blamed the United States for the situation in Gaza and the high civilian death toll, saying that a de-escalation in the besieged enclave was vital to prevent regional war.